John Griffiths and Emma Morrison withstood a late charge from Patrick O'Donovan and James Constantine to win the Tegiwa Donington Rally on Sunday (30 November).
The Skoda Fabia R5 duo were contenders at the front all the way through, but their eventual winning margin was just seven seconds from O'Donovan's Hyundai i20 R5.
The latter was the leader after the first stage, with just a second in hand over the the Citroen of title front-runners Michael Igoe and Will Atkins. But after the French machine twice made contact with a chicane across the opening two stages, the car was withdrawn having accrued big time penalties.
That turned the event into a straight fight between the Skoda and the Hyundai, with Griffiths benefiting when the Hyundai clattered the tunnel under the Esses towards the end of the third stage, and sustained suspension and differential damage which needed to be fixed before the remainder of the event.
But not all fixes were able to be sorted in time, with the car running on two wheel drive for the next stage, and conceding 20 seconds to Griffiths in the process.
With two stages remaining, the Skoda was 21 seconds ahead but the fightback began as O'Donovan gained three seconds on the penultimate stage.
Griffiths had 17 seconds in hand starting the final run in near darkness, but O'Donovan was 11 seconds quicker, leaving just a seven second gap at the end of the event. The podium was completed by the Ford Fiesta Rally 2 of Sean and Colin Quigley, who finished just a second ahead of the R5 Fiesta of Jack Darbyshire and Matthew Kendall.
A gargantuan entry of 100 cars started the event, with 82 still running at the end of the contest.
Tegiwa Donington Rally result:
1. John Griffiths/Emma Morrison, Skoda Fabia R5, 48m52s
2. Patrick O'Donovan/James Constantine, Hyundai i20 R5, +7s
3. Sean Quigley/Colin Quigley, Ford Fiesta Rally2, +1m03s
4. Jack Darbyshire/Matthew Kendall, Ford Fiesta R5, +1m04s
5. John Stone/Harry Walshaw, VW Polo GTI R5, +1m23s
6. Alfie Threlfall/Patrick Cross, Mitsubishi Lancer E10, +2m20s
7. Mark Gellatly/Harriet Worth, Citroen C3 Rally2, +2m28s
8. Ollie O'Donovan/Ashleigh Morris, Hyundai i20 R5, +4m02s
9. Bradley Carroll/Gareth Short, Ford Escort Mk2, +4m09s
10. Steve Hill/Hal Ridge, Mitsubishi Lancer E6, +4m28s